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Syria: All out war! That's all we need!

Leaving to one side the intriguing question why it has taken the US to "move" now to become involved in the Syrian conflict - some 93,000 Syrians having been killed over the years - informed commentary is that the intervention of America into the ongoing war could likely lead to a wider war. Just what the world needs.

"As Western leaders and major media outlets rushed to back the White House's recent claim that the Syrian government has used chemical weapons against its rebel forces—urging increased U.S. "military support" for the rebels—progressive voices emerged Friday to warn against U.S. intervention, which would only escalate the conflict and lead to an even greater loss of life in the region.

Firstly, speaking on Democracy Now! Friday morning, Patrick Cockburn reminded viewers that very similar claims, which proved to be false, were made before the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq:

Well, there must be, you know, some doubts about this. You know, they [The White House] say this in a sure voice, but it’s a sure voice which reminds me of what they were saying in 2002 and 2003 about Saddam’s weapons of mass destruction.Both Syria and its close ally Russia—who promised to send air-defense missiles to the Syrian government in the wake of Western powers lifting the ban on arms shipments to rebels in the region—denied the accusations Friday.

Alexei Pushkov, leader of the Russian lower house’s international affairs committee, accused the US of fabricating evidence, comparing it to America's incorrect claims of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq in 2003.

“Information about the usage of chemical weapons by [Syrian President Bashar al] Assad is fabricated in the same way as the lie about [Saddam] Hussein's weapons of mass destruction [in Iraq],” Pushkov tweeted.

Cockburn hightlighted the complexities of the conflict, of which the U.S., Russia, and others have already involved themselves in several ways. According to Cockburn, the conflict has become a "proxy war" between several foreign interests vying for power:

Cockburn states:

'Yeah, it already has turned into a proxy war. You can see that with—Hezbollah and Iran were involved, but also the U.S. was—had already combined with Qatar to send weapons. Qatar has sent up to $3 billion to the rebels, 70 loads of flights of weapons, organized by—with the CIA. So, that was already happening. I think one of the—you know, what ought to happen would be to go down the diplomatic road to try and have a ceasefire. I don’t think you can have any solution at this moment in time, because you people are too involved in the war, they hate each other. But they should push for a ceasefire, and then there might be the basis for some talks afterwards. But the decision by the U.S. looks as though it’s going to push this into an all-out and long-running conflict.'

"Palestinian municipal elections were supposed to be held last week. Instead, they were canceled. A statement released by the Palestinian Authority claimed the cancellation was "in order to pave the way for a successful end to the siege on Gaza and for continued efforts at unity" between Hamas, which governs the Gaza Strip, and the government in the West Bank.

The cancellation of this election was an unjustified, unlawful, and unacceptable act. It damages democratic rights and makes a mockery of the interests of the Palestinian people.

But this is far more than an internal Palestinian issue. The only lasting peace between Isr…